Publications
Partners
Manchester - Carlos Tevez chose the occasion of his 27th birthday to claim a 19-minute hat-trick against West Brom, taking his season tally to 20 goals, in Manchester City's comfortable 3-0 victory at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Tevez also extended his remarkable personal record of never ending a game in which he has scored for City on the losing team. Having scored in 25 different matches for City, Tevez has been on the winning side an impressive 23 times.
Victory for City was also the perfect response after manager Roberto Mancini was highly critical of his team following the midweek draw at Birmingham, a result which continued his team's mediocre recent form and saw them lose ground in the race for the Premier League title.
But Tevez ensured there would be no uncertainty about the outcome of the latest fixture, scoring three times in an impressive opening 35 minutes from his team.
After only three minutes, the Argentinian forward struck the post with a well-judged volley from David Silva's cross.
There was no uncertainty, however, about his next opportunity as a quickly-taken James Milner free-kick deceived defender Steven Reid who tripped City midfielder Aleksandar Kolarov, allowing Tevez, who had missed his previous two attempts from the penalty spot, to beat Boaz Myhill with a shot into the bottom right-hand corner.
Just five minutes later, the outcome of the game looked settled after Tevez collected Vincent Kompany's pass and played a delightful one-two with the equally-dangerous Silva.
Tevez advanced into the area, past the desperate lunge of Jonas Olsson, before calmy rolling his second goal past Myhill.
Ten minutes before the interval, Tevez again found himself on the spot after a Kolarov cross had struck Nicky Shorey, deceiving Jerome Thomas who handled as he attempted to control. Tevez was again clinical from the resulting penalty, this time with a shot high into the left side of the net.
The City goalkeeper Joe Hart was forced into some first half activity, diving to keep out Chris Brunt's free-kick, tipping over an Olsson header and parrying away a James Morrison volley from the edge of the area.
But City, also, could have scored more than their three first half goals. Kolarov's magnificent 35-yard shot was touched onto his bar by Myhill, the keeper denied Silva with an outstretched leg and Tevez might have had a fourth as he tried to play in Silva with a far-post cross that just missed the goal.
Albion's attacking approach also saw Brunt shoot just wide from distance, and Hart display another fine piece of goalkeeping to keep out a Shorey free-kick although, inevitably, City looked just as likely to add to their three first-half goals, and Kolo Toure and Silva both saw shots deflected behind by defenders from promising shooting positions.
